


why walk when you can run

by mostlikelydefinentlymad



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, Fluff and Humor, M/M, No Angst, Sam Wilson is a Gift, Steve Rogers & Sam Wilson Friendship, Stucky - Freeform, look ma I wrote a happy fic for once, riley & bucky friendship, steve rogers is a competative little shit, the au where everyone is happy and nobody dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-05
Updated: 2016-09-05
Packaged: 2018-08-13 04:28:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7962418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mostlikelydefinentlymad/pseuds/mostlikelydefinentlymad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky and Riley are sat under a large oak tree with a spread of dried fruit, nuts, chips and crackers between them as they take in the spectacle that is their unfortunate other halves.<br/>"Falcons. I'd like to see one outrun both of them."<br/>Bucky snags the last remaining cracker and passes the empty container to Riley who makes an indignant sound at it.<br/>"Steve would try to beat it. He'd run until he collapsed and still say he almost had it."</p><p>Riley grins and raises his eyebrows. He can do one better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	why walk when you can run

"Peregrine falcons can dive somewhere around 200mph. It hits its prey with one wing."

Steve laps Sam once more and has the audacity to tap him on the shoulder as he circles around. This earns Steve a glare as Sam huffs but goes right on trying to rush past him.

"What's that?," Bucky questions. He'd gotten distracted.

Bucky and Riley are sat under a large oak tree with a spread of dried fruit, nuts, chips and crackers between them as they take in the spectacle that is their unfortunate other halves.

"Falcons. I'd like to see one outrun both of them."

Bucky snags the last remaining cracker and passes the empty container to Riley who makes an indignant sound at it.

"Steve would try to beat it. He'd run until he collapsed and still say he almost had it."

Riley grins and raises his eyebrows. He can do one better.

"You think _he's_ bad? Try chasing a one winged Sam around the sky while his dumb ass says he can take down around 15 snipers if he can get up enough speed."

On the track in front of them, Sam curses and stops to tie his shoe.

"On your left!," Steve calls as he sprints past him.

"Mango?," Bucky offers. He clears his throat when Riley takes the entire bag and picks through them in hopes that he'll get the hint. He doesn't. It's a whole 2 minutes before Bucky snags it back and Riley scoffs.

"You offered," he states defiantly.

"And _you_ took too long."

"Anyways. How long do you think they'll be at this?"

Bucky squints up at the sky. They have at least three hours of daylight left.

"I'll give it another hour or so. Two if Sam calls him Roadrunner again."

 

Steve circles round once more and pauses long enough to drop a kiss on the tip of Bucky's nose and steal a slice of dried mango. Meanwhile, Sam soldiers on. His t-shirt is sweat damp and chest heaving but he's not surrendering.

Riley beams at Sam's huffing and puffing because that stubborn man is his. It had taken them three years of working side by side on pararescue missions to finally cross the line into something more. Or more-so it was Riley's near death experience that made Sam speak up. They'd been in the middle of a midnight op and Riley was shot down. He'd began to twist and tumble toward the earth and Sam had never flown so fast in his life. He'd just barely reached him. Two bottles of wine and many jabs later, Sam leaned forward in his seat and pulled their mouths together. The rest, as they say, is history.

 

"Tell me again how long the two of you have been together," he murmurs. Sam notices the attention and throws a wink before taking off after Steve.

They've had this conversation before but Bucky doesn't mind rehashing it. Theirs is a dark and blood smeared story but defies fate itself. In his minds eye he sees baby blues softened by a campfire as the Commando's prattle on about the women they've left behind and how much they miss home. Home was sitting on his right.

After every man had crawled into his tent for the night, Steve had laid awake.

After an hour of struggling with sleep Bucky had turned on his side to peer at Steve only to find those blue eyes staring back. Without another word he'd abandoned his cot and cupped Steve's face in his palms. They'd kissed languidly, both losing track of time and getting lost together. Many confessions were whispered in between desperate kisses. From that point on they'd been inseparable.

"Seventy five years, give or take."

Riley whistles, impressed.

"What's your secret?," he asks.

There is no magic formula or set of rules and regulations. Love does not follow logic. Secret? Existing together, that has always been enough.

"If he's breathing, I'm breathing," Bucky replies. It's the god's honest truth. If Steve died there would be no more Bucky.

Though he'd never admit it, Riley is a diehard romantic. Sam's favorite topic is frequently about whatever romantic comedy he was forced to endure or how Riley had bought magnetic fridge poetry letters that might as well be in a foreign language to him. Riley is the heart in this operation, Sam is the head. Love and logic come together beautifully.

Riley pins Sam with his gaze once more and nods.

"I know what you mean, man."

 

Sam rushes in, panting and taking the water bottle Riley was already offering before he'd even asked.

"He ain't human," he wheezes.

Bucky stands and stretches. "Steve? Nah, he has his own category."

Steve sprints in and honestly, Bucky will never get used to the idea of him no longer gasping for air when he runs.

"Me as the topic again? I'm honored."

Sam rolls his eyes. "Not that it matters but no, we were talking about Bucky's sad attempts at cooking."

Riley laughs and Bucky glares. So he burns things, big deal. The stove needed replaced anyways.

"Good save."

Sam narrows his eyes. "Couch."

Oops.

Riley shrugs and steals the last remaining bag of banana chips when Bucky isn't looking. Bucky is terrible at hiding food he'd rather not share. Besides, Sam would never force him to sleep on the couch, he wouldn't get any rest then.

 

"I'm a good cook," Bucky insists.

Steve gives him a we-both-know-that's-not-true look. "You caught the entire stove on fire, Buck. Fishsticks aren't supposed to be black."

And the spat begins. Riley props up against a wide tree and pops a handful of banana chips in his mouth.

"It's a _gas_ stove, Steve. I thought it was electric."

" _Was._ You killed it," Steve corrects.

Sam takes a spot near Riley and dips a hand into the bag.

Crunch, crunch.

"I told you we should've gone with the older model."

"They don't make 'em like that anymore, Buck."

"I saw one in a magazine last week. The kind Tony reads...what was the name of it?"

Riley pipes in. "Good Housekeeping."

Bucky snaps his fingers. "That's it! That's the one." 

It's Tony's guilty pleasure and he thinks no one notices but they do. Sam keeps his eyes on the squabbling super soldiers and takes the bag from Riley's hands.

Crunch, crunch.

"We can't afford those."

Bucky crosses his arms. "Why not? Backpay, remember?"

Riley takes the banana chips back and slaps Sam's hand when he tries to claim it once more.

Crunch, crunch.

"Yeah but that doesn't mean we should drop $5k on one."

Sam lunges at Riley who twists away.

Crunch, crunch.

"They're less than $200," Bucky corrects.

Sam settles for Bucky's half empty bag of bbq potato chips instead.

Crunch, crunch.

"Where?"

"There's a place in California that restores stoves like the one your ma had. Her birthday present that one year?"

Riley passes Sam a handful of banana chips.

Crunch, crunch.

"I remember that one, yeah. Do they have any available?"

Bucky thinks for a moment. "I'm not sure but we can check."

Steve brightens. He has won yet another argument.

"Okay. We can do that when we get home."

Riley passes the entire bag to Sam who refuses it. They just don't taste the same without drama.

"Truce?"

"Truce."

"I'm pretty sure you're supposed to shake hands or something so c'mere."

Bucky takes Steve by the shrunken t-shirt and drags him in for a kiss. Sam groans and jogs back to the track. It doesn't take long before Steve notices and raises an eyebrow.

"So that's how it's gonna be?"

Sam grins and starts running. "That's how it's gonna be."

Meanwhile, Bucky and Riley trade stories about the ridiculous life threatening antics Steve and Sam have thrown themselves into.

Life is a series of wrong turns but in this universe at least, they've found their way.

**Author's Note:**

> steve stop trying to be a falcon, sam is not your prey


End file.
